In Iraq they can shoot back.

We can put an end to the violence in Mexico with the "surge" strategy. All those who think it has worked in Iraq should surge on down to Mexico.

ndotseth: In Iraq they can shoot back.

This. Iraq is a lot safer than people think.

MickeyD: ndotseth: In Iraq they can shoot back.

This. Iraq is a lot safer than people think.

My brother did two tours in Iraq and even he says that he feels safer there than in some places in Mexico. And this is coming from someone who is Mexican and whose wife is also Mexican.

scruffy1: MickeyD: ndotseth: In Iraq they can shoot back.

This. Iraq is a lot safer than people think.

My brother did two tours in Iraq and even he says that he feels safer there than in some places in Mexico. And this is coming from someone who is Mexican and whose wife is also Mexican.

As a farker who grew up a few hundred miles from the Mexican border in Texas, I find all of this absolutely amazing. Back in high school, circia 1996, we used to drive to Laredo and cross the border to get drunk on 50 cent Corona's. Now, from everyone I know still in the area, it's not even advised to cross the border during the day. WTF happened to Mexico? I guess they just hate Americans as much as the rest of the world. Or did Al Queda set up camp on the border?

cambie: Now, from everyone I know still in the area, it's not even advised to cross the border during the day. WTF happened to Mexico? I guess they just hate Americans as much as the rest of the world. Or did Al Queda set up camp on the border?

They love Americans, at least the locals and the natives do but the biggest problem has to do with the drug lords, the corrupt politicians, cops and administrators. My father is a naturalized citizen here and he has been stopped by Mexican customs at the airport claiming that his passport is no good and that he needed further documentation, the further documentation being a twenty dollar bill. It's no better in some of the big cities where if they catch wind that you have money then the cops will pull you over and begin to make excuses as to why they pulled you over.

I've had friends lose their trucks to cops out who said they were running drugs. When they finally cleared them and let them go home they found out that somehow their truck was "missing."

That country is corrupt and I don't blame the people I blame the actual government and status quo and this is coming from someone who has relatives in both ends of the social economic spectrum down there. That country is in serious need of another revolution, the question is what will the US do if that would ever to happen seeing that is has a large amount of business interest's down there? Furthermore how would it handle a sure to come wave of refugees?

scruffy1: MickeyD: ndotseth: In Iraq they can shoot back.

This. Iraq is a lot safer than people think.

My brother did two tours in Iraq and even he says that he feels safer there than in some places in Mexico. And this is coming from someone who is Mexican and whose wife is also Mexican.

Buh...buh..but Bush!

Vacationing in Iraq must be loads of fun.

the old crow: scruffy1: MickeyD: ndotseth: In Iraq they can shoot back.

This. Iraq is a lot safer than people think.

My brother did two tours in Iraq and even he says that he feels safer there than in some places in Mexico. And this is coming from someone who is Mexican and whose wife is also Mexican.

Buh...buh..but Bush!

yeah, more and more people are shaving these days

Mexico is way more dangerous than Iraq these days. The half-life of an honest police official in Ciudad Juarez or Nuevo Laredo is measured in minutes.

WTF happened to Mexico? I guess they just hate Americans as much as the rest of the world. Or did Al Queda set up camp on the border?

They aren't killing just Americans, they're killing everybody. It's a combination of drug/smuggler wars and a general breakdown of law and order. Kidnapping for ransom has become such a national plague that wealthy people are fleeing to the US to live. Some of the kidnappers are following them and kidnapping them HERE.

I like how Mexico says the drug problem is only a problem because of the U.S. consumers.

Could you imagine if a U.S. official said this? Every illegal within a 100 mile block radius of their comment would get automatic amnesty.

honest police officials? Hell, how about Mexican country singers? Those poor bastards are dropping like flies. Damn we gotta get that wall built or all doomed.

Heh. When I was in the army, we had some training at Ft. Bliss, TX and they let us go into Mexico after about 3 weeks in the desert. Of course, some of us had to leave quickly after one of my buds put some local through a window.

/good times

mistahtom
I like how Mexico says the drug problem is only a problem because of the U.S. consumers.

Could you imagine if a U.S. official said this? Every illegal within a 100 mile block radius of their comment would get automatic amnesty.

Actually, the blame lands squarely on the war on drugs. If it were legal, there wouldn't be nearly as much profit in it and legit businesses would take over.

As an El Pasoan, I am getting a kick out of these replies, scared when I drive the Border Highway...

I'd rather go to Mexico than Iraq.

As someone who had two shipmates sexually assaulted by two corrupt Mexican Police officers in Veracruz, I'm NOT getting a kick out of these replies.

/At least the Mexican federals arrested the two police officers
//Only after the State Department got involved

I go to Mexico every year. The west coast. I'm very fond of the Mexican people. The majority, like people everywhere else, are great. But every year, it gets worse and worse. Not just for Americans visiting, but for the locals too. I can go home, they can't.

It's hard for the average American to imagine the poverty. A $20 bribe to a cop means his family eats for a week.

/not a bleeding heart
//just saying

Eastern Mexico was perfectly fine when I went a few months ago. This whole problem is in Northwest Mexico and due to drug smugglers.

MickeyD: ndotseth: In Iraq they can shoot back.

This. Iraq is a lot safer than people think.

Holy ridiculous bull.
I'm in the air force, and as such I haven't had a chance to go, but I know many security forces folks who HAVE gone, and also one finance girl... well let me tell you that she came back pretty scared and messed up in the head. It tends to bother people when random mortar shots explode around you on base... the safest place you can be.

ndotseth: In Iraq they can shoot back.

This. Done. Go home everyone.

mistahtom: I like how Mexico says the drug problem is only a problem because of the U.S. consumers.

Could you imagine if a U.S. official said this? Every illegal within a 100 mile block radius of their comment would get automatic amnesty.

how would acknowledging the reality of supply and demand lead to amnesty for illegals?

NimChimpskee:
Holy ridiculous bull.
I'm in the air force, and as such I haven't had a chance to go, but I know many security forces folks who HAVE gone, and also one finance girl... well let me tell you that she came back pretty scared and messed up in the head. It tends to bother people when random mortar shots explode around you on base... the safest place you can be.

Small arms fire from one block over on the other hand doesn't bother me anymore. Yes, Mexicans live there, how did you guess?

I guess the "War" on Drugs has became a War on Drugs.

My tin foil hat theory is; Bush is doing nothing on the border because if the Mexican poor did not have
jobs in the US to send money back to mexico, the corrupt government of mexico would have a revolution to deal with, a Chavez type revolution and the US government does not want that.

Whats in Mexico?

..Mexicans.

Army prohibits soldiers to travel to Mexico because of increasing violence.

Army prohibits travel to Mexico by soldiers because of increasing violence.

or

Army blocks soldiers from traveling to Mexico because of increasing violence.


that is all.

NimChimpskee: I haven't had a chance to go

I stopped reading right there.

Actually, I didn't. I just thought that would be funny to say.

War affects people differently, but there's no doubt that it changes everyone. In Iraq though, they have armored vehicles, body armor and at least one weapon. Regular people don't.

frankencj: My tin foil hat theory is; Bush is doing nothing on the border because if the Mexican poor did not have
jobs in the US to send money back to mexico, the corrupt government of mexico would have a revolution to deal with, a Chavez type revolution and the US government does not want that.

I hate tin foil arguments and conspiracy theories but I don't doubt that this one might be closer to the reality of things than people may think.

I am just hear to laugh at the use of the irony tag..
/what?..oh ok.

Wanted for questioning

johnny_vegas: I am just hear to too laugh at the use of the irony tag..


/sorry pet peeve

frankencj: My tin foil hat theory is; Bush is doing nothing on the border because if the Mexican poor did not have
jobs in the US to send money back to mexico, the corrupt government of mexico would have a revolution to deal with, a Chavez type revolution and the US government does not want that.

I think you should take this tin foil hat theory even further.

The Bush Administration got us embroiled in an extended conflict in Iraq because starting in the mid nineties there was growing support for having regular army and national guard units engage in border protection duty either as a matter of policy or thinly veiled as 'training exercises'.

Such activity would both disrupt the flow of migrant workers and other cheap labor from Mexico but would hinder the transport of drugs across the border, which would lower the need for our militarized police forces.

This, of course, would run counter to the aims and purposes of the shadowlords in the Amish/Canadian Conspiracy Alliance, which they can't have since the Knights Templar have just finished readying their forces to aid in taking over the world in the coming revolution.

If you're gonna wear a tin foil beanie, do it right, dammit.

BEHOLD - Proper use of ironic tag

subby +1

dooder0001: mistahtom
I like how Mexico says the drug problem is only a problem because of the U.S. consumers.

Could you imagine if a U.S. official said this? Every illegal within a 100 mile block radius of their comment would get automatic amnesty.

Actually, the blame lands squarely on the war on drugs. If it were legal, there wouldn't be nearly as much profit in it and legit businesses would take over.

Legit businesses can't take over illegal drugs because if they did they would get their asses sued off when some kid overdosed.

As it stands right now there are commercials dragnet fishing for people on medications that have side effects, to get them to sue pharmaceuticals and make money.

"Have you had neurological problems since using cocaine? Do you feel addicted? Are you suffering lost income from it? Does it cause depression when you are not on it? Is your septum perforated? If so you could be entitled to a cash settlement."

That is why most illegal drugs will never be legalized. The unpleasant reality is that they are in fact dangerous. And more dangerous than alcohol. Marijuana is an exception. Its bad effects may be milder than alcohol which is legal.

Drug dealers don't have to deal with lawsuits over side effects.

kornkob: If you're gonna wear a tin foil beanie, do it right, dammit.

Dude. Newsletter. Start one. Now.

Well done smitty.

Irony tag used correctly. Congrats.

/+1
//slashy

dooder0001:

Actually, the blame lands squarely on the war on drugs. If it were legal, there wouldn't be nearly as much profit in it and legit businesses would take over.


Do yourself a favor; repeat the words "economic inequity" to yourself until you understand. If you can't figure it out just go ahead and eat a bullet. Mexico's problems have very little to do with your inability to buy weed at the 7-11, dumbass.

LOL @ Le Monde


He didn't mean take over selling drugs...he meant that normal businesses would fill the economic gap so there wouldnt be a need for people to sell drugs.

Of course there will always be those who want to make some extra cash

From what limited info I was able to dig up, it appears the murder rate in Iraq is about 4 times that of Mexico. Baghdad's murder rate is about 2.5 times that of Mexico City's. Just saying.

sat1va: From what limited info I was able to dig up, it appears the murder rate in Iraq is about 4 times that of Mexico. Baghdad's murder rate is about 2.5 times that of Mexico City's. Just saying.

Well a lot of the people in Iraq also have guns to defend themselves with. So they have a fighting chance if the shiat hits the fan.

Buuuut, I'm just here to throw fuel on the fire.

Mexico has some of the strictest gun laws in the world.

jjorsett: WTF happened to Mexico? I guess they just hate Americans as much as the rest of the world. Or did Al Queda set up camp on the border?

They aren't killing just Americans, they're killing everybody. It's a combination of drug/smuggler wars and a general breakdown of law and order. Kidnapping for ransom has become such a national plague that wealthy people are fleeing to the US to live. Some of the kidnappers are following them and kidnapping them HERE.

Kidnapping for ransom happens all the time in Phoenix. It's tied to the smuggling of drugs and illegals. You end up finding bodies full of bullet holes dumped in the desert or on the street.

sat1va: From what limited info I was able to dig up, it appears the murder rate in Iraq is about 4 times that of Mexico. Baghdad's murder rate is about 2.5 times that of Mexico City's. Just saying.

I'd be interested to see where you got those numbers.

One thing that I would have to ask about any comparative process between Mexico and Iraq in terms of crime statistics: how good a bookkeeping system do they have down there? In Iraq the crime statistics might be slanted as far as what they call them, but the crimes are probably accurately counted.

Mexico, on the other hand, has a police force that is not very professional and is rife with corruption. Crime reports are probably not as well accounted for.



Remember, it wasn't that long ago in the US that rape, child abuse, molestation, assault and, yeah, even murder, were commonly underreported in many ethnic groups and economic strata. One really has to be careful about taking crime statistics at face value, especially in places where there is corruption and unrest.

We weren't really allowed to go there anyway.
You had to submit a pass,way in advance.
/I can see Mexico from my window just fine.

I'm genuinely puzzled: Why is Mexico so dirt-poor when it's right next door to a vast, affluent market? They should be pretty well-off just by a sort of financial osmosis. And if they've got anything at all to sell, why, it should be a "slam dunk". Why so poor?

If I had to guess it would be rampant corruption that permeates every layer of society.

They have whole highway systems on maps down there that don't actually exist.

A Tout Le Monde: That is why most illegal drugs will never be legalized. The unpleasant reality is that they are in fact dangerous. And more dangerous than alcohol. Marijuana is an exception. Its bad effects may be milder than alcohol which is legal.

Drug dealers don't have to deal with lawsuits over side effects.

the fly in your ointment is really very simple. the same law which would legalize the drugs could also limit or even eliminate liability for addiction.

Lord Summerisle: I'm genuinely puzzled: Why is Mexico so dirt-poor when it's right next door to a vast, affluent market? They should be pretty well-off just by a sort of financial osmosis. And if they've got anything at all to sell, why, it should be a "slam dunk". Why so poor?

Income inequality.

Won't someone think of the donkey shows?